Nawshad Ahmed

It is widely acknowled-ged that Bangladesh has been successful in making impressive gains in poverty reduction in the past years. Nevertheless, at the end of 2019, there were still about 16.5 million people categorised as extreme poor.

Dhaka has been going through an unprecedented level of urban growth during the last five decades. As the capital of newly independent Bangladesh in 1971, Dhaka had a population of only 1.5 million, whereas it currently has an estimated population of 21.7 million.

Elections to the paurashava (municipality) councils are ongoing since December 2020 in phases, and are expected to be concluded by April 2021.

It is one thing to explore the connection between religion and development, and another to take it for granted and find out ways in which religion can contribute to economic development, deal with social disorders and promote overall welfare of the people.

When a reasonably large factory is closed down, either by the government or by a private entrepreneur, the immediate consequence of it that comes to mind is the loss of jobs.

I visited more than a dozen small and medium sized towns in Bangladesh during the last two months to get a good understanding about our urbanisation trends.

A common question is how and by whom are prices fixed in the market? The question arises because every now and then the price of one essential consumer item or the other goes up without our notice.

All indications in the past few weeks give an impression that the country is turning around. Economic activities have been picking up fast after a prolonged lockdown of about four months.

If half of the population of Bangladesh and up to 70 percent of children are deficient in vitamin D, then it must be a major cause for concern for us. Despite having the natural advantage of abundant sunshine all year round allowing vitamin D synthesis, why are we having this phenomenon in our population?

Government projects targeting the poor, like any other projects, if not well planned and properly implemented, will not yield their desired outcomes.

Social research is generally not a priority during a serious crisis. Despite the fact that Covid-19 has dramatically impacted our society and altered the life patterns of a large section of the population, we have undertaken very few studies in Bangladesh to assist informed decision-making during this pandemic.

The Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a visionary leader whose birth centenary is being celebrated this year.

In building urban infrastructure and services, we are faced with a huge challenge of meeting the demand created by increasing rate of urbanisation in Bangladesh.

Monitoring and evaluation are proven tools to determine the extent to which public sector development projects and programmes are on track and if adjustments are required to improve their performance.

I have been asked by several close friends recently, why we need social protection measures to address poverty in Bangladesh—a country which has the world’s largest microcredit programme. One might ask: is it because the microcredit programme is not fulfilling its promise of alleviating poverty and social protection is therefore going to replace it?

The near absence of an environment-friendly urban waste management system in Bangladesh is a major concern for the citizens.

The Dhanmondi lake deserves some serious attention by the relevant authorities to save it from pollution.

City corpora-tions and Paurashavas constitute the municipalities in Bangladesh. There are 331 municipalities comprising of 11 city corporations and 320 Paurashavas in the country.

Education and skills are important prerequisites for faster economic and social development of a country. A skilled workforce is an asset and helps in ensuring enhanced productivity, adoption of new technology, global competitiveness, increased income and reduction of poverty. The East Asian countries achieved a higher growth path with adequate investment in skills development.

Social values form the basic foundation of a nation. The values define what is acceptable in a society and determine the behaviour of the people. Social values are however not static and can change over time based on what beliefs and attitudes people embrace as they move on.